


Hughie Campbell - The Girl

by 6114261



Category: The Boys (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M, Fem-Hughie, Female Hughie, Gen, Girl Hughie, Hughie-Starlight Friendship, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kidnapping, Mid-Season 2, Past Rape/Non-con, Protective Billy Butcher, Rape, Rape Aftermath, Season/Series 02, Sexual Violence, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:47:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27290686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/6114261/pseuds/6114261
Summary: After her boyfriend is killed by A-train Hughie is pulled into Billy Butcher's world. But being a girl in the world of the Boys puts a special kind of label on you. Especially after Homelander notes Butcher's protective streak when it comes to Hughie.
Relationships: Billy Butcher/Hughie Campbell, Hughie Campbell/The Homelander | John
Comments: 35
Kudos: 155





	1. The storm drains

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: If you haven't seen the show up to episode 4 season 2, this story is probably not going to make much sense to you.

Chapter One: The Storm Drains

Hughie could see the heart pumping, fighting to stay alive despite everything. The whale’s desperate call for help as it died. It was all so, so, fucked up. How had her life come to this? In the span of a few months, she had gone from being a normal girl with a wonderful boyfriend to this… a murderer sitting inside a whale, a fucking whale, stomach, covered in intestine and blood, trying to outrun superheroes and the police. It was too much. It was all too much. 

She barely even registered Butcher at first as he tried to get her to leave. She was only vaguely aware of her responses until he touched her. Then she snapped

It was all his fucking fault, all of it. Before him she had been working a normal job, in a normal shop, living a normal life. Since meeting him she had planted bugs, electrocuted a human being, blown someone up, used her friend, seen people die, blackmailed people, almost died (she didn’t know how many times), and been forced to live with smugglers under a sex shop. He had done that, and for what?

“Get the fuck off of me!” She yelled, earning herself a set of narrowed eyes.

“Ok, suit yourself.” He said, jumping up and leaving. Just like last time. Just like he left MM and Frenchie to Vought.

A few seconds later MM climbed in instead, sitting down next her. He didn’t say anything, just sat there.

“What are you doing?”

“If you are not leaving, I’m not leaving.”

“They will be here any second.” She tried to warn.

“Probably.” He agreed, looking around the stomach. Hughie sighed.

“Ashole.” She muttered as she gave in and started climbing out, following the others into the storm drains. 

It didn’t take long before she found herself using the walls to keep herself up. And soon after that to just lean against it. There really was no point, Homelander or the cops or whoever was after them could just kill her. It never stopped, there was just one shitstorm thing after another. She was exhausted. Starlight had done it, Vought was going down, Robin had been avenged. They could kill her for all she cared. 

At some point, she had started to move again, someone was pushing her forwards. Forcing her to take one step after another. She didn’t know who, she didn’t care. But after a while, she felt the hand hands disappear, but the momentum continued. Everything around her was a blur until she suddenly came face to face with Annie.

“Annie, you got my message.” She smiled. But rather than the greeting she had expected she found herself blasted back against the wall. 

She must have blacked out because the next things she knew the Homelander was looking down at her.

“Oh, come on.” He said, looking at her in disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me. This girl, again?” He asked, looking over at Starlight.

“I did not know.”

“Do you have rocks in your fucking head?” He asked, going over to head, placing a hand on her back as he almost gently led her closer to Hughie. “Come here.”

“I would like you to do something for me, okay?” He told her, an excited gleam in his eyes that did not bode well. 

“Kill her.” The command caused Annie to stutter before finally coming up with a complete sentence.

“She is wanted, shouldn’t we get her to the police?”

“She is. We should.” He agreed. “Kill her. Right now.” Still, she hesitated.

“Chicks. Are you call like this, Hughie?” He asked, not really expecting an answer.

“It’s easy.” He told Annie, once again stepping, half behind her. “Hands in the air.” he demonstrated, lifting her hands. “Like you just don’t care.” He added with a small smile.

All Hughie could do was stare, he was mad. A psycho. Still, Annie did nothing.

“Kill her.” He said again, the almost playful quality from earlier gone. “Now.”

“Wait.” She said. “We can use her.”

“Use her?” He asked exasperated. 

“To get the others, they came for the other two last time.” Hughie never found out what he thought of that.

“Oy! Cunt” An all too familiar voice of Butcher came from around the corner. Hughie could honestly say she had never felt more relieved to see him. Homelander too, seemed quite pleased as he turned his back on Hughie.  
“William. What a surprise! You know, I had a wonderful breakfast with your wife this morning. Pancakes. Delicious.”

“Yeah.” He smiled, lifting his rifle. “Eat this, motherfucker.” However, rather than shooting, he sent the terrorist forward, hands free.

Seconds later Homelander was buried under thousands of pounds of rubble and a few vehicles. The terrorist was gone, his sister after him and Butcher walked up to Hughie offering his hand.

“Come on. Before he gets free.” He offered. For a few seconds Hughie could only stare, her eyes wide, almost unsure, as she reached for it and allowed herself to be pulled up. 

Standing there, her hand in Butcher’s she suddenly cracked, the tears started coming and before she knew what she was doing she threw herself at Butcher, burying her face in his bloodstained chest, her arms going around his waist like visors. 

For a while Butcher just stood there, not sure what to do, looking around the room until MM gestured for his hug her back. With a sigh he did, using one hand to awkwardly pat her back.

“There, there” he sounded so awkward, under any other circumstances Hughie would have laughed. Instead, she held on tighter. “I’ve got you. You're okay, you are. Now let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise it will diverge more from the cannon as it continues!


	2. What the fuck was wrong with Butcher?

Chapter Two: What the fuck was wrong with Butcher

All five of them sat staring at the news with a sense of defeat. Stormfront killed dozens of people, and somehow Vought had successfully turned her into a hero, the Supes she had created into super terrorists, and Vought into the only viable solution. With somewhat defeated eyes Hughie turned her head to look up at Butcher, he met her eyes head-on with determination in his. Somehow that made Hughie feel better, if Butcher wasn’t giving up things weren’t over yet.

Two days later she snuck out to meet Annie in Central Park. It made her feel like a teenager sneaking off to see her boyfriend. But she needed to make sure she was ok, Homelander was a psychopath and she had stood up to him, as well as she could without getting incinerated on the spot.

Surprisingly her meeting with Annie ended with them on a road trip with MM to Riley, North Carolina. When MM agreed she didn’t even question her luck. The CIA lady wanted them to look into some Supe there who used to go by the name of Liberty. But at least it gave them a reason to escape the city for a while and offered Annie an escape from the Seven Tower.

However finding out that Liberty was a racist superhero from the 70s, and none other than Stormfront was an eyeopener. Other than Soldier Boy, who there were plenty of rumours about that questioned if was even the original, none of the Supes seemed to be unaffected by time. Not even Homelander. And if what Butcher said was right, he was pretty damn immune to everything else.

Delivering the news to Butcher was even stranger. He was nice. Apart from that moment in the storm drain she could not remember a single time he had been… almost sweet for lack of a better word. Maybe Becca was already having an influence on him. That is not to say that she had been nearly as understanding when MM first told her that Butcher was out and leaving with Becca. To say it was better that it had taken five calls for him to answer would probably be an understatement. 

“I think something is wrong with Butcher. Like really, really wrong.” She told MM after he hung up

“Oh yeah, what makes you think that?”

“He was nice.” She confessed, even to her own ears it sounded like she was saying she had just been to the moon and back. It was just as likely. And she wasn’t surprised when that earned MM’s attention, making him turn to face her. “He called me his canary. Whatever that means,”

“Tell me everything.” 

Hughie soon learned by everything. He meant everything. And it was the squeaky sound of a dog toy in the background of the call that that sent them to their current location. Outside Butcher’s aunt’s house in the suburbs. Apparently, that's where Butcher kept his dog. 

Hughie had to do a double-take as she saw the house, this was not how she expected anyone connected to Butcher to live. It was suburbian paradise with perfectly mowed lawns, and identical houses.

“What are you waiting for?” MM demanded, already by the door. “Get moving.”

“Are you sure this is the right address?” She had to ask.

He rolled his eyes. “Get over here, now.”

Like the house, the woman who answered the door looked utterly and completely normal. However, the quick entrance they were granted after MM mentioned Butcher, told Hughie that, at least, they were in the right place. And by the time Butcher returned from walking the dog both Hughie and MM were seated in the sofa with teacups and saucers in their hands.

It was with some relief Hughie noted that Butcher was back to normal, a grumpy, sarcastic, arsehole. Apparently, Becca wasn’t with him, choosing to stay with her son. Less comforting was that the superhero waiting to kill them outside, while they waited.

Looking for Butcher Hughie found him sitting quietly in front of a turned-off TV with his dog next to him, absently petting him. It was honestly the most affectionate she had ever seen the man until he stood up after glancing at Hughie.

“What’s going on?” She asked.

“That ninja is coming here for me, in’t he?” He asked rhetorically. Hughie answered anyway.

“Yeah, but you can’t go out there. He will kill you.” At her words, he gave her one of those looks. The one that said it all. “So that’s it?” She asked.

“Expectin’ a happy ending were you? Well, I’m sorry, but this is not one of those massage parlours, girlie. But I’ll keep him busy a little while, givin’ you lot a chance to leave.” At Hughie’s silence, he continued. “I’m knackered, I could use a little light out.”

At first she didn’t know how to respond, she couldn’t just let himself get killed. “Fuck you.” She settled on. “You think I will be impressed by all this, blaze of glory shit?”

“It’s not.” She was about to comment but he turned around and suddenly his nose was almost on level with hers. “Is that what you think this is? Who even asked you to come here?” he demanded. “I don’t need your help. You’re pathetic. You are the one who constantly need savin’. Always latchin’ on to someone. You are so afraid of bein’ alone. Well, I will tell you a lill’ secret then, sweetheart, shall I? Everyone is bloody alone. That’s how we are born and that’s how we bleedin’ die. Just get out the fucking way and get out of here. You don’t need to die right now. If you wanna die there are plenty of opportunities. But don’t go and do it for my bloody sake. I don’t need it, and I don’t wan’ it. Take MM, and Judy and just get the fuck out of here, while you still can.” He said, looking straight at her. “Now, get the fuck out of me’ way.”

“I’m not moving.” She told him stubbornly. 

“And what’s a little girl like you gonna do about it, eh? Don’t make me move you.” He told her, sounding tired more than anything else.

“You can move her.” MM agreed, moving up behind them, blocking the doorway. “Good luck with me.”

“Fine” He gave in, “Do what the fuck you wan’.”

After being led down to Judy’s saferoom stocked with drugs from floor to ceiling, waiting for Black Noir to make his move, things made a little more sense to Hughie. Becca had been enough of a divergence from Hughie’s impression of Butcher. A suburban childhood with white picket fences was just a little too far for her to reconcile with the man.

Sitting down there in nearly complete silence was proving to get on her nerves, she never thought she would prefer being chased in a storm drain to sitting in a sofa. But if one thing was for sure, since meeting Billy Butcher it was that life took unexpected turns. She was only seconds away from starting chewing on her nails when Butcher sat down next to her, looking uncomfortable.

“You know, about before…” He started, looking for all the world as if he rather would be upstairs with Black Noir. “I didn’t mean it.” After that was said he looked far more comfortable as he continued. “But you would be damn better off if you had listened and gotten the fuck out of here when I told ye’. Now,” he placed a hard cold gun in her hand. “You are gonna need this.” He stood up, turned around. “And... don’t die.” With that, he left to return to his old spot by MM, who meet Hughie’s confused eyes with wide-eyed astonishment. What the fuck was wrong with Butcher?


	3. Interlude: How Hughie got her name

Interlude: How Hughie got her name 

“How come you are called Hughie, anyway?”

“Long story.” Hughie tried to dodge, leaning her head against the motel headboard, turning her attention to the old Hugh Grant movie playing on the TV.

“Not like we have anything better to do. You know my real name.” 

“Well, Annie, I will happily tell you my name. It’s Jessica. Nice to meet you.”

“Come on…. please?”

“Fine, but if you tell MM, or anyone else, I will never forgive you.”

“Cross my heart.”

“It’s from Huey, Duwey and Louie.”

“Huey, Duwey and Louie?” 

“Donald Duck’s nephews? When I was a kid I had all three, they were my favourite toys. But I lost Huey somehow. I was really really upset and wouldn’t stop crying. So my mom said I could be Huey, since my dad's name is Hugh. That way Duwey and Louie wouldn’t be lonely. After a while it became Hughie and it sorta… stuck.”

“You are named after you favourite toy?” She asked with laughter in her voice.

“It’s a nickname.” She protested, though her lips were twitching.

“You introduced yourself as Hughie.”

“Well, a lot of people introduce themselves by their nickname.”

“Fine, your secret is safe with me. ” She smiled amused. "Now..what’s up with MM’s OCD?”

“What OCD?” 

“Well, he taps the wheel three times before he changes lanes, or stir his coffee three times, and those antiseptic wipes…Really? You’ve noticed none of that?” She asks at Highie’s blank look. “Okay… well I guess it’s about extracting control over things you can control. I can understand that.”

“Are you ok?”

“Not really, I walk around the Seven Tower wondering of Homelander is waiting around every corner to kill me. It’s like living with a loaded gun to my head. I swear to God, he was a second away from killing me yesterday. So this, this is really nice. Just lying here in a shitty motel room having a girls night for the first time in ages…”

“Doubt they would really let me into the Tower without killing me. Otherwise, we could do it more often.”

“Don’t even try, it would get us both killed. As your superpower equipped friend I would be required to take action.”

“Fine. But I still wish I could do more.”

“Just being able to talk to you, to anyone really....”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figured if Amazon can swop genders, so can I.


	4. Return to NYC

Chapter Three: Return to NYC

Driving away from the suburbia and back to New York City Hughie was still on a slight high from the battle. She still couldn’t quite believe they had survived, they had literally been seconds from death. However, MM kept glancing at her in the rearview mirror with a troubled expression.

“What?” she finally asked.

“Are you gonna tell me what’s goin’ on with you and Butcher?”

“What are you talking about?”

“In all the years I have known him, he has cared about two things, Becca, and killing supes. That’s it. If we die in the process, so be it.” He told her bluntly. “But today, the second you were in Noir’s line of sight he threw himself at him. He bargained with Vought to save you. Something he swore he would never ever do.”

“To save all of us.” She countered.

“He would happily have thrown himself and the rest us to the wolves if it got in one last fuck you to the supes. And it ain't the first time he does it either. Butcher ain't stupid, but this is the second time he risked himself to protect you from a supe. First Homelander, and now Noir. Fuck, it's the second time he apologised to you. If something is goin’ on, we have a right to know.”

“Nothing is going on.” She denied.

“If you say so.” He offered, letting the subject drop. “But if anything does happen, you better tell me. We are all putting our lives on the line here.”

The rest of the ride back to New York, Hughie worked hard not to read too much into MM’s comments. It was almost a relief when she got a text from Annie, telling her they needed to meet. Urgently, Annie’s cover was blown. News that sent her running to Central Park rather than the shop the second they hit the city.

No more than an hour later Annie and Hughie were meeting up with Frenchie in a small lab out in Queens to remove her tracker. With two people in the Seven now knowing of her involvement in telling the public about V, it was too risky to stay. At least she had managed to get a bargaining chip that might just convince Butcher to let her join the team. Maybe. If they were extremely lucky.

As such it was with no small amount of trepidation that Hughie led Annie down to their hideout. She had been there so long now that she had stopped seeing it for what it was, but Annie took it in with distaste.

“Seriously, this is where you are living?”

“It’s not Vought Tower. But you know, it has it’s charms.” She offered. “The rats are like pokemon… with hep c.”

“I’m sure.” She said doubtfully, taking in their basement dwelling. Her eyes wandering from one resident to another. Hughie thanked her lucky star the drug runners were out. But as she saw Kimiko walking towards them, the thanks quieted and she prepared herself to jump in as a mediator if needed. 

“Hi.” Annie greeted with only a hint of uncertainty in her voice. “Do you remember me? From-” She prepared to continue only to find the female arms wrapped around her in a hug. “Ok..” She said, smiling slightly as Kimiko grabbed her hands and smiled up at her.

The moment didn’t last long.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?” Butcher’s voice interrupted the reunion. Before he could say any more Hughie hurried up to him.

“Look, I know what you are going to say, but we removed the chip and-” He ignored her.

“Starlight. Don’t you just light up a room, ey? You are looking well.”

“Yeah, no thanks to the 50 caliber round you pumped into my chest.” She told him bluntly, making Hughie want to jump in and stop them. She guessed it was ingrained into her DNA after trying to stop her parents from fighting on almost a daily basis before her mom walked out on them. The only problem she wasn’t sure how.

“Well, what don’t kill you, make you stronger.” He said with mocking joviality. Before finally giving Hughie his attention. “What is she doing here?” He asked with deadly seriousness. She really should have let MM fill him in before bringing her.

“Eh…Annie has a lead on Stormfront.” She settled on. Butcher only glared at her until Annie stepped in, drawing his attention back to her.

“I broke into her computer. There were dozens of emails from Stan Edgar in her inbox.”

“Stan Edgar?” He repeated in a tone Hughie never heard him use before, before he went back to his usual tone. “And what did Vought’s big slabber have to say?”

“They are close to a breakthrough at the Sage Grove Centre. It’s a psychiatric hospital in Pennsylvania.”

“What kind of breakthrough?” Hughie asked.

“She came in before I could see any more.”

After turning to Frenchie and MM, telling them to look into it more, Butcher’s eyes were back om Annie. And Hughie could never have guessed the words that would follow.

“Starlight, would you be amenable to joining us on this little caper?”

“Wait!” Hughie said in surprise. “You want her to come?”

“Oh, absolutely. If things go sideways, who do you think Vought will go after? Us or their billion-dollar baby turned traitor? Never go into shark-infested waters without chum.” And with that he left, leaving a fuming Annie behind.

“He grows on you.” Hughie offered.

“Like cancer.” She replied sharply.

“At least he wants you to come…” 

“Yey me…”

To say the ride to Pennsylvania was strained was the understatement of the century. When Butcher wasn’t talking with MM and Frenchie, he was either glaring or mocking Annie. By the time they reached their destination and the others gone inside, leaving Hughie, Annie and Butcher keeping watch outside. Hughie couldn’t think of any place she wouldn’t rather be.


	5. Homelander

Chapter Four: Homelander

Even from outside Hughie could see something had gone terribly wrong inside the hospital. The fact that they weren’t answering Butcher’s calls were not making her feel any better. She could literally see people exploding and splashing against the windows of the place from her seat in the car. She barely had time to register that someone had gotten out and Butcher was talking to him before the car went tumbling, with her still inside. 

She remembered the car flipping multiple times, Butcher throwing the door open, then the ground closing in on her, and after that, there was a vague memory of something, of the air rushing past her and pain. Intense pain. After that there was nothing.

Next time she reached consciousness she was on a hard surface, and the world around her was fuzzy. Groaning loudly she tried to sit up, only to find her arms too weak. She tried again and almost made it before she plumped down, exhausted.

“Oh, fuck this.” A voice she vaguely recognised swore close by, and soon she was plucked up like a sack of potatoes and dumped on a soft surface. After a while, she managed to force herself into a sitting position and slowly the world shifted into focus. She wished she didn’t. Sitting opposite her looking like an petulant child was the leader of the Seven.

“Are you done?” he asked, his tone annoyed.

“How did I get here?” She asked, feeling like she was talking through A mouth full of cotton.

“I brought you here.” He said, his tone sharp.

“Why?” Hughie asked, her eyes drifting around the room. Vaguely she noted it looked like a posh living room, but pushed the thought away as she tried to turn her focus back to Homelander. The threat, even in her current state she knew that much.

“Well, At first I was going there to kill you,” he told her as if it was obvious. “But then I thought about what Starlight said and how William always seems to come to your rescue. First with Translucent, then in the tunnels, then with Noir...”

“Bait.” She guessed, then feeling more focused added..”I’m bait.” 

“Ding, ding, ding. Finally caught up, huh?” he asked.

“Not that I’m complaining, but why am I not locked up in a cell?” She asked.

“You know, apart from Maeve and the maids you are the first woman to make it through those doors.” He told her, with a smile that sent chills down her spine. “Why question your good fortune, hmm?”

She only stared at him, feeling a stone build in her stomach.

“Ah, right. Yes,” he said, lifting his finger up in the air as if to indicate one more thing. “In case you get any other ideas…. I will rip your father to shreds, one piece at the time while he is screaming in agony. Then feed it to him. Then I will kill every single person you have ever spoken to if you so much think about leaving. Understood?” He asked, his voice almost jovial. She gulped but forced a nod. “Say it.”

“Understood.”

“Good. Now rest up, you have a busy week ahead of you.” He informed her, turning away to leave.

“Wait.” She called out. She needs to know. “What happened to the others?”

“Ah, your friends. William and Starlight. The traitor.” He said. “She had to drag William away. He really is quite attached to you, he made some very creative threats.”

Hughie sighed in relief, making Homelander roll his eyes. 

“You know…” he said “It’s your fault I found you. You see right here,” He told her, snatching hold of her hand, tapping his finger just next to a blood vessel on her wrist. “is a little chip, telling the hospital you are covered by Vought Health Insurance.”

“I don’t have insurance-”

“You do, high premium too. Covers the entire family. Offered only to high ranking Vought employees, informs us the second it’s scanned.” 

“Mom…”

“Mom. How does it make you feel, hm?” He asked, “Dear old mom works for the enemy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it diverges.... what do you think? It was harder to keep Homelander in character than I thought... passable?


	6. Repeat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: non-concentual sex

Chapter Five: Repeat

After Homelander left Hughie had a mental battle with herself, trying to push back memories of her mother and focus on her surroundings while fighting through the drugs in her system. Briefly, she wondered why he’d bothered to drug her before remembering his reference to the hospital. If Butcher had taken her to one she must have been really badly hurt. 

Allowing her hands to feel for a wound she glanced down at her clothes. Or rather the hospital gown and blanket she was rolled up in. She guessed Homelander had wanted her alive when he had flown off with her, It hadn’t stopped the blood from seeping through the bandage though.

She didn’t see him again for almost two days, though both food and clothes appeared sometime in the afternoon the next day. Whether it was him or someone from Vought she didn’t know, not did she particularly care. She found the phone and intercom to be password protected, but the TV worked fine, leaving her to watch the news when she wasn’t sleeping. 

They kept showing clips of people protesting Homelander’s war crime, the war crime itself, and Stormfront loudly proclaiming people’s right to compound V. It seemed almost to be on repeat. It wasn’t until her second day that she got any news on Butcher and the Boys, or rather on a clip of a nurse telling them how Homelander had shown up and saved the girl they had been keeping hostage after they had overdone it and almost killed her, forcing them to bring her to a hospital or risk her dying. 

At first, Hughie wondered who they were talking about and it took her a good few minutes before she understood they were talking about her. How Homelander had rescued her from Butcher, had come himself to take her away from them. Either the girl was a huge fan or been properly bribed by Vought. Probably both, judging from the almost sycophantic expression on her face when she spoke of Homelander. Either way, it created plenty of new question marks for Hughie, most centring around why they were going through the trouble of clearing her name and what Homelander was up to. 

Lost in thought, she didn’t notice the doors open and wasn’t aware of Homelander’s return until he grabbed her and dragged her out of the room and threw her on the bed. 

She could barely recognise the man in front of her, he looked furious, and nothing like either the patriotic front he put up or the psychotic leader of the Seven that had tried to kill her. In fact, she was pretty sure he didn’t even see her as he flipped her over and started pulling down her pants. Nor did he seem to register her struggle or pleas as he easily kept her in position with one hand, using his knee to spread her legs and give himself access. 

Without so much as a warning, he buried himself deep within her, slamming in and out without restraint, tearing as he went, forcing a pain as she had never felt before to explode within her. It lasted only seconds, but it felt like it continued for hours, and when he finally finished with her all Hughie found herself capable of doing was lying there, still as a corpse. 

She should be trying to leave, she should be yelling, she should be trying to fight him, but all she could do was lie there as if all her will had left her. She knew what she should do, but what she should do didn’t matter. All she could do was wonder what she had done to make him do it. Was this what he had done to Butcher’s wife? Was this how she felt? No, she had had the strength to leave, Hughie didn’t.

When he finished he had rolled off her, and, like her, he only lied there. But while she stared at the same spot she had randomly chosen to focus on as he slammed into her, his eyes were on the ceiling, his expression relaxed. 

After a few seconds, he stood up and looked down at Hughie.

“Go get cleaned up, I had the dress department bring something up earlier. Celia and her team will be here in an hour to get you camera ready. You better hurry.” He told her as if nothing had happened before he went into the adjoining shower room himself. 

When he returned fresh from the shower Hughie hadn’t so much as moved. She had barely even recognised his absence. So with a put upon sigh, he picked her up and dropped her inside the now empty shower, turning on the water to almost a scalding temperature and threw a soap at her before turning the showerhead right at her and left. 

Hughie remained almost in a trancelike state until Homelander warned her that she better get over it or others would pay the price and a small army of makeup artists emerged armed with hairspray and makeup. 

When they were done with her Hughie didn’t even recognise the girl in the mirror. Though she wasn’t sure if that was because of the makeup or…

“I’m almost not embarrassed to have had my cock in you.” Homelander told her when they were alone, his eyes wandering over her every curve. Taking in the deep neckline, the dark green, the almost black colour of the dress and the loose skirt. It should be close enough to trigger some memories for Butcher. It was almost identical to the one Becca had worn when he had first met her and William, even the girl’s hair was close proximity. Facial features… well not much he could do about that.

“Don’t look so put upon. Most women would be ecstatic to be on my arm.” Hughie only stared at him, her eyes blank. “No? Well, either way, you will smile and be grateful when we get there. After all, it’s thanks to me you are no longer a wanted woman.”

“Get where?” Hughie asked, surprising even herself by the dead quality to her voice. Homelander didn’t seem to notice.

“We are going to a Vought party, we are going to put on a little show for William, he seems to need some extra motivation.”


	7. Chapter 6: Billy Butcher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mini chapter from Butcher’s POV due to popular demand :)

Chapter Six: Billy Butcher

The clip had been on repeat for the last 24 hours, ever since Starlight had yelled out her name after seeing her on TV. Butcher barely recognised her, it had been less than four days and she had been transformed from a geeky store clerk to… to a woman. She walked confidently down the red carpet, dressed like a starlet, Homelander’s hand resting on her lower back. She was bloody gorgeous, and nothing like his Hughie. If not for the dead look in her eyes that was all too familiar to him for his last few days with Becca, he would have thought her better off. But that look was there and the mere thought of it was enough to make him want to tare that fucking cunt into million pieces and burry them in led-laced coffers all over the fucking world to make sure he stayed that way. That fucker had done that to her. He didn’t know exactly what or how, but he had broken her a way not even standing in the middle of a fuckin' rain of human blood and intestine after her fucking boyfriend had exploded holding her hands had not broken her. 

Four days with that fucker had done that to her, and right now there was nothing he could fucking do to help her. Not a fucking thing, except stare at her dead eyes over and over again as she stares into the camera with a wide fake fucking smile on her lips and that fucking cunt’s bloody hands all over her.

“Butcher” MM’s voice interrupted his downward spiral. 

“What?”

“Mallory wants to check on one more person. His testimony might actually be worth more than Lamplighter’s, if we can get it. Go with her.”

“Who?”

“Does it matter? You need to stop watching that. It’s not helping anyone,”

“He is killing her.”

“She looked fine to me,” He told him. “Better than fine.”

“Like fuck she is, that fucking cunt did something to her.”

“I’m sure he did. But right now there is nothing we can do for her, she is a free woman. Mallory said all charges against her have been dropped. And the whole world just saw her hanging on Homelander’s arm like a lovesick puppy.”

“And you believe that?”

“Of course I don’t. Hughie is better than that. If she was free to do what she wanted, she would be right here. With us. But the best thing we can do now is nail that fucker and this is the best way for us to do that.”

“This time there will be no pussyfooting. He is going down, for what he did to Becca, to us, and whatever the fuck he is doing to her right now. Him and every fucking supe out there.”


End file.
